Data storage subsystems are used to store information provided by one or more host computer systems. Such data storage subsystems receive requests to write information to one or more data storage devices, and requests to retrieve information from those one or more data storage devices.
Prior art methods to manufacture such a data storage subsystem product first initialize and format the one or more data storage devices disposed in the data storage subsystem product, and then write storage subsystem configuration protocols to the formatted data storage devices. The data storage subsystem product is then configured using those configuration protocols. The one or more data storage devices are again formatted to remove the configuration protocols therefrom. Thus, prior art manufacturing methods require that the one or more data storage devices disposed in a newly-manufactured data storage subsystem product be formatted two times.
What is needed is an apparatus and method to configure, format, and test, a data storage subsystem product, where the one or more data storage devices disposed in the data storage subsystem product are only formatted one time.